A group of track and field athletes from Saint Lucia have turned in a series of standout performances across recent collegiate competitions in the United States, highlighted by a historic award haul from high jumper Jenneil Jacobie at East Texas A&M University’s (ETAMU) annual end-of-season honors ceremony.
ETAMU’s annual awards event, dubbed the Luckys, celebrates the university’s top Lion student-athletes across three core pillars: academic achievement, athletic excellence, and community and personal growth. Jacobie, a senior pre-med student hailing from Grande Riviere, Gros Islet, walked away from the ceremony with four major trophies. Her honors include recognition as Most Outstanding Women’s Field Athlete, Female Breakthrough Performance of the Year, the Lion Heart Award, and the prestigious Lib Huggins Award for Female Athlete of the Year.
Jacobie’s award sweep comes after a career-defining 2026 season that followed tremendous personal and athletic adversity. After undergoing surgery that forced her to miss the entire 2025 competitive season, the senior jumped back to set a new ETAMU school record of 1.87 meters in the women’s high jump earlier this year. She also made history as the first athlete from ETAMU to qualify for and compete at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, capping a remarkable comeback story.
Beyond Jacobie’s historic achievement, multiple other Saint Lucian student-athletes competing at U.S. colleges have earned top-three finishes and set new personal and seasonal bests across a slate of major national competitions.
Natalie Albert, competing for the University of Memphis, secured third place in the women’s hammer throw at the LSU Alumni Gold meet, hosted at Bernie Moore Track Stadium. Albert notched a throw of 55.82 meters (183 feet 2 inches) — her second-best performance in any competition, coming on the heels of a personal best 56.57-meter throw recorded earlier in the 2026 season.
At the annual Penn Relays, one of the most prestigious outdoor collegiate track events in the country, Khailan Vitalis — the Saint Lucian national record holder in the men’s 110m hurdles and a junior transfer at Clemson University — also earned a spot on the podium. Vitalis ran 13.85 seconds in the preliminary round to advance to the championship division final, where he clocked 14.08 seconds into a stiff -1.3 meter per second headwind to claim third place overall.
At the Drake Relays, another major midwest collegiate competition, Mya Hippolyte of Western Illinois University notched a new season-best time of 11.93 seconds in the women’s 100-meter sprint, finishing 17th overall in a deep field of top competitors from across the country.
Additional standout results from other Saint Lucian athletes include:
– Jola Felix took third place in the women’s 100-meter sprint at the Pioneer Classic with a time of 12.57 seconds, and finished fifth in the same event at the Zac Kindler Invitational with a 12.80-second run
– Synai Glover won the women’s shot put event at the Virginia Pride Spring Kick-Off with a throw of 11.64 meters
– Malaika George placed sixth in the women’s 400-meter run at the Fredonia Blue Devil Invite, clocking 1:00.85
– Jasmine Stiede finished eighth in the women’s 800-meter run at the OU O Ring Opener with a time of 2:17.58
– Michael Joseph placed 13th in the men’s 200-meter sprint at the John McDonnell Invitational with a run of 21.16 seconds